HINSDALE -- In a season of transition for the Hinsdale Central, senior Mackensie Cruickshank is making the latest adjustment.

Used to playing alongside senior Jane Cole or subbing for her in the midfield, Cruickshank now has a bigger role after Cole was lost to a season-ending knee injury against Evanston on April 9.

“She's a good friend of mine so I do miss her. But we’re still doing good,” Cruickshank said. “We’ve worked through it. It’s definitely hard, but we’ve communicated and built off it, and we’re good to go. And winning.”

On Tuesday, Cruickshank contributed to the lone goal with 7:32 remaining that gave the Red Devils a 1-0 West Suburban Conference Silver Division home victory over Glenbard West.

It was the third shutout in four games for the Red Devils (3-5-2, 2-0-0), who are 3-1-1 in their last five games after an 0-4-1 start.

Cruickshank, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, took a pass from senior Elle Jenkins along left wing, made a cutting run towards the center and took a shot toward the upper right post.

Glenbard West senior goalie Rose Mugnani deflected the ball, but sophomore Haley Arnold ran the rebound in with her stomach. The ball was ruled to have barely crossed the goal line.

“(The play) was surprising, but it did pass the line and it was good. I’m glad (Arnold) chased after it,” Cruickshank said. “We knew that we didn’t want to go into (penalty kicks), so we finished the game off by scoring.”

After a defense-dominated first half on both ends, Cruickshank was integral to the Red Devils increasing their possession time and gradually gaining control.

The Red Devils outshot the Hilltoppers 10-3 in the second half and 14-8 overall (8-4 shots on goal) and 5-4 in corner kicks.

Glenbard West (4-8-0, 0-2-0) made one last surge and earned a last-second corner kick. From the center of the crease, Cruickshank headed out the cross.

“If you want to talk about someone who came in and changed the game, (Cruickshank did),” first-year Hinsdale Central coach Bryan Ciesiulka said. “Not only did she keep the ball for us, but she also did a lot of the dirty work, won head balls, won 50-50 balls. She kind of gave us a little boost when we needed it. She played great.

“She deserved the action on the goal. She got the ball in the pocket, she turned, she shot, which is something that we love to tell Mackensie to do, because she’s got a good shot. And Haley did a great job crashing the net.”

Arnold scored her first goal this season but, like most observers, wasn’t completely sure at first. Mugnani and her defenders battled furiously to get the ball out of the area and play temporarily continued until the referee’s signal.

“It was Mackensie’s great shot that got the goalkeeper a little rattled,” Arnold said. “I just didn’t think it went in, because I didn’t see it in the back of the net. I was like, ‘It didn’t go in,’ but then one of my teammates ran up to me like, ‘You scored,’ and I was like, ‘Oh yeah.’”

“I was just sitting there (on the bench) with my fingers crossed hoping that it rolled over the line,” Ciesiulka said.

Glenbard West hoped for another shutout after achieving four in their victories. Senior central defender Anne Gelfer, who tried to clear the ball on the scoring play, said she didn’t see the ball from Arnold’s rebound completely cross the goal line.

“The edge was partly in, but it wasn’t all the way over,” Gelfer said.

Score-wise, the goal also stood because the Red Devils’ defense excelled once again. Like many aspects of the Red Devils, the new backline unit, with just one senior, Maddy Swade, is gaining confidence.

Sophomore goalie Taylor Ward, usually the backup to sophomore Fiona Fitzsimmons, made four saves and a huge one on a point-blank shot by senior Sophia Cavalcante from the center of the crease just more than a minute before halftime.

“I thought we played really well,” Swade said. "We had our moments, but I think we should have won by a few more goals. We’ve just got to keep taking (advantage of) our chances.

“How it feels to win, keep that in the back of our heads. We need that motivation every game for sure. We need to keep in mind the feeling after you win. It’s a good one.”

In the midfield, the Red Devils were efficient especially along the edges with Arnold, Jenkins, Cruickshank and senior Camille Lubic creating most of the havoc. Besides Arnold’s flip throw-ins and Lubic’s corner kicks, the four combined for seven shots.

“I think that Camille stepped up and did a good job,” Cruickshank said. “We’re all communicating well.”

Throughout the field, Ciesiulka said it’s a work in progress but definitely one on an upward swing.

This year’s roster is combining several underclassmen who played for last year’s two-victory season with players from the 2016 sectional finalists who instead played club soccer last spring.

“Jane’s a great kid and an awesome soccer player so we’re pulling for her,” Ciesiulka said. “And she’s obviously missed on the field, but what we tell our girls is 'Next one up.' Everyone’s got to be ready to contribute, and everyone who has stepped up for Jane has done a great job.

“We’ve been kind of looking for the right combinations so far. We’ve been using a lot of different lineups. This is my first as coach so when I came in, I tried not to worry about (past rosters). I gave the message of, ‘This is a fresh slate, a clean start. It doesn’t matter where you came from. We’re Hinsdale Central now.’”

Offensively, this was the eighth game this season in which the Red Devils scored one or or zero goals. Two of the shutouts came against Naperville North, no. 9 in the latest Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, and second-ranked St. Charles North. Another was a more positive result with a 0-0 tie against no. 8 Evanston.

“I think that we’ve been creating many opportunities, but we just need to put them in the back of the net,” Arnold said.

Fortunately the defense has been strong. It has allowed two or fewer goals eight times. The current lineup with Swade, juniors Sophie Simmons and Samantha Moriarty and sophomore Olivia Rayis is becoming a cohesive unit.

“A lot of work at practice, going through our drills a lot, starting to jell with each other, that helps, getting to know each other and how we play,” Swade said.

“We’re staying on our defenders every day like, ‘Hey, you guys don’t get to take plays off because if you do, we get scored on.' But today they did a great job.”

Among the new faces with the Red Devils is senior forward Caroline Renehan, who has run track the past couple of seasons and competed for the Red Devils at the 2017 Class 3A state meet with the 400- and 800-meter relays.

Renehan came in off the bench and kept the offensive pressure coming, taking shots on goal in the 63rd and 67th minute.

“She’s super fast. We say, ‘Hey, run at girls and get your shot off,' and that’s exactly what she did,” Ciesiulka said. “She created some space that would eventually lead to a goal. She pushed them back.”

By contrast, Glenbard West started nine seniors and two juniors and had two senior substitutes.

The Hilltoppers are especially optimistic after just implementing a new defensive formation with three defenders and two defensive midfielders.

In their first try at the new defense, Glenbard West topped Class AA power Nazareth 1-0 April 12. Nazareth beat Hinsdale Central 1-0 March 20 in the Red Devils’ third contest.

“We’ve never played with the juniors and some of the sophomores before, so this is a new transition for us, but defensively it’s been going really well,” Gelfer said.

“The new formation has been helping us out a lot. It’s a big adjustment for defense, offense and midfield. I think if we keep practicing it, things will get better, and we’ll get more offensive chances.”

Glenbard West coach Morgan Kasperek, a Hinsdale Central graduate, just coached Glenbard South’s girls basketball team to its greatest season, concluding with a third place finish in Class AA.

“Our defense played well. I think we got tired at the end and let them cut middle. Then they were getting good, open shots on the keeper and eventually one’s going to go in,” Kasperek said.

“We’ve been playing some pretty good soccer. I think we can play better. We need to be more aggressive offensively. Defensively we’re holding our own. Offensively, we’ve got some work to do.”